How the ‘Green Doom’ narrative of climate change has been a disaster for activists – here’s what they SHOULD have done instead

Matt Ridley was right about one thing.

In a recent article for the Daily Mail, the science and environment commentator argued that scaring people with tsunamis of eco-gloom, planetary disaster and never-ending extinctions due to climate change is the environmental movement’s biggest mistake.

The overarching ‘Green Apocalypse’ narrative means that, as the decades pass, fewer people pay heed to what leading scientists, informed policymakers and business leaders agree: the risks associated with climate change are real. And they are accelerating.

But on all other points I strongly disagree with Ridley’s assessment of the risk of climate change and his seeming inability to recognize the enormous economic opportunities it brings for Britain.

According to the Met Office, 2025 will be the UK’s warmest year since records began. This sixth Britain’s new annual temperature record this century – after 2002, 2003, 2006, 2014 and 2022.

Whether you are a climate change denier or a skeptic, it is clear that something is happening and it gives us a choice.

Let’s move beyond the rabbit hole of debates about more ‘green’ taxes, the near-impossible obsession with Net Zero issues, or the scarring of the countryside with tens of thousands of acres of solar panels.

Instead, let’s be crystal clear: Pocketing all the real benefits from clean energy and building resilience to climate change presents the greatest investment opportunity in history. And the UK can lead a worldwide technological, entrepreneurial and financial revolution to combat harmful global warming that will boost the economy.

Paul Clements-Hunt is a former United Nations official who invented ESG and runs the organization’s largest partnership with global finance.

Alternative? We are missing out on being a key nation building the global engine of ‘clean capitalism’ and green growth. I fear the Matt Ridleys of the world would prefer to see the UK walk away from its opportunity to become the celebrated architect and financier of the world’s future sustainable economy.

Don’t just take my word for it. How does Warren Buffet, known as the Sage of Omaha for his investment prowess and personal wealth of more than $150 billion, see this? He says there is a “high probability” that climate change will be “a big problem for the planet”. Energy company Berkshire Hathaway Energy, one of the largest owners of clean energy in the United States, is a major investor in wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower.

He and a growing group of investors understand that the relentless power of what I call ‘Pro-Nature’ capitalism will both deliver huge returns – And A planet with an ecosystem so abundant that it would make even David Attenborough sing.

Manages more than 5,500 investment institutions worldwide 121 trillion US dollars The funds now support the 2006 United Nations approach to responsible investment, which my UN team designed, developed and delivered. The aim of the Responsible Investment Principles is to protect retirees’ savings and increase their value through smart investments that align with environmental, social and governance (ESG) realities.

Global investors are discovering new markets based on breathtaking technological breakthroughs. I believe the UK is ideally placed to drive these advances, while being a primary recipient of future financial benefits.

Climate investment reaches $1.9 trillion annually in 2023. Estimates of annual investment needed by 2030 in sectors including clean energy, heavy industry, transportation and real estate to avoid the worst effects of climate change are as high as $11.7 trillion. This is the level of investment required to meet the 2015 Paris CoP21 target of limiting the global average temperature increase to 2°C and to seek to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

Only private markets can provide this financing, and the UK must claim its share and determine how it plays in global green markets.

So how? A great example stems from our proud maritime history, establishing a worldwide Empire and repelling invaders for close to 1000 years.

As a nation, we know the sea and its power. According to Richard Arnold, Director of Policy at the Marine Energy Council, ‘The UK has the marine expertise, offshore engineering experience and supply chains to lead the world in harnessing wave energy.’

‘It is critical that the UK Government delivers a clear path to market and supports the wave energy industry investing in coastal communities and beyond.’

The same is true of the cutting-edge British scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs and intrepid financiers who make up the British workforce. real England Inc.

Sir James Dyson recently wrote in The Times: ‘There is so much raw potential in our country that can be realized if we embrace passion and creativity.’

Sir James Dyson knows this. ‘There is so much raw potential in our country that can be realized if we embrace passion and creativity,’ he recently wrote in The Times.

Starmer & Co need to support UK Inc to unleash the collective imagination and recapture the Victorian spirit that allowed this country to build the best infrastructure the world has ever seen.

Why is infrastructure so important in the fight against climate change?

Cities cover only 2-3% of the world’s land surface, but consume 78% of global energy and generate 60% of polluting gases. We have the capabilities, track record and experience to reimagine our cities, deliver cleaner industrial and transportation energy, and design infrastructure to withstand the impacts of climate change.

We will also create 400,000 Good Jobs in England.

President Trump may mock windmills and call climate change the ‘biggest scam ever’ but the POTUS is wrong and the smart money in the US knows it.

Tooth-and-claw hedge fund traders in the US are positioning to make new climate fortunes. They smell the opportunities emerging from a largely unnoticed development that has been a decade in the making at the recent UN climate summit, CoP30.

The gathering of world governments in the Brazilian Amazon was seen by many as a failure. Few world leaders attended, no plans to reduce fossil fuel use were agreed, and a fire in the main venue added an almost comical tone to events.

However, what CoP insiders call Article 6 has moved forward and burned the blueprint of the multi-trillion-dollar carbon and nature trading market.

If you use the term ‘Art 6’ in any climate conversation you are considered an insider.

Conceived in the years after the world’s main climate change plan was adopted in Paris in December 2015, Article 6 is a recognition that only the arrogance of global private finance, capital markets and business can combat climate change.

Essentially, Article 6 makes it easier for national governments, states, provinces and businesses to tackle climate change together.

Potentially lucrative and innovative climate solutions are emerging around the world.

Singapore sees the emerging global markets related to climate change as a major opportunity for dynamic investment, banking and insurance companies. He wants his financial sector to be the trading center of these global carbon markets worth trillions of dollars. The City of London needs to step up its game to compete with Singapore – and fast.

In Brazil, all 26 states and the Federal District of Brasilia are exploring how forest conservation can be turned into securities tradable on international exchanges. Each state must establish (or restore if cut) a legal reserve of 20% of native vegetation.

The Bahamas, meanwhile, is exploring ways to turn its massive underwater seagrass forests, which represent 40% of the world’s total, into the ultimate carbon-absorbing bank, while boosting national finances.

Whatever Mr Ridley says, there is no doubt that the UK is at the forefront of leading climate action. In November 2025, we provided 66% of our electricity supply from zero carbon sources. More than 37 percent of our electricity came from wind energy. Of the 20 hard-hit global economies, the UK is the only country in the top ten for climate action (currently ranked 6th) and the UK’s emissions have fallen to just 1% of the global total.

England, which was once the coal-based giant of the world and gave birth to the industrial revolution, is leading global warming actions.

Those who bemoan the alleged failures of climate summits such as CoP30 reveal a misunderstanding of the time and date required for lasting results in a complex world.

It took 48 years for nations to negotiate global free trade after the horrors of World War II. The World Trade Organization was established in 1995, leading to a fivefold increase in trade to $30.4 trillion by 2023 and making progress to eliminate poverty.

It’s only been three decades since we answered a much more complex question through our efforts to fix the climate. How are nations, investors and entrepreneurs planning new systems covering economy, energy, industry, transportation and infrastructure for a population that will exceed 10 billion by 2100?

The Earth’s capacity to renew itself will surprise us; But only if we make bold investment decisions in the industries of the future. And England can show the way.

Paul Clements-Hunt is a former United Nations official (2000-2012) who led the organization’s largest partnership with global finance. He created the concept of ESG.